The Demigod Games
by stelianqueen
Summary: AU. Solitaire Rhine has been an unclaimed demigod for five years. When Camp Half-Blood, the only safe haven for demigods, gets taken over by two goddesses, she finds herself fighting for her life in a cruel event known as The Demigod Games.
1. Did Camp HalfBlood Just Get Crazier?

Ello! Updated chapter! Like it?

**Disclaimer: **No own for me. :(

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Parry. Step. Swing. Parry. Step. Swing. It's funny how when you get really used to fighting that you do everything without thinking. The guy I was fighting saw nothing coming. I know, I probably shouldn't be making fun of the newer kids, because I was one of them once, but I always did anyway. What? We had just started and he was exhausted. It didn't take long for him to stagger and fall. I held out my hand to him, and helped him up.

"Thanks," he muttered.

"No problem."

Oh. Right introductions. This is a first chapter, after all. Or at least I think it is. Um, either way, my name's Solitaire Rhine. Stupid name, right? You, the kid out there who thinks their name is super boring, try growing up with a card game for a name. Not fun. And the nicknames you get... awful. Was my mom drunk when she named me? It seemed like it.

Oh. Yes. Her. My mom. Dead. Or at least I think so. I was always told she was dead, but who knows what's real these days? Not me, for sure. My dad, on the other hand, I knew was alive. Because he was a Greek god.

Yes. You heard me right. Greek. God. Which one? No clue. Definitely not Apollo- I can't sing, dance, aim, or write poetry. And musical instruments broke when I touched them- at least, that's what my best friend, Jenna, would say.

Five years. That's how long I've been waiting. Really, Mr. All Powerful god who happens to be my dad, care to spare a moment to claim your oh-so unhappy daughter? You've had thirteen, soon to be fourteen years. Get off your lazy butt for once and claim me. Seriously, it isn't that hard. Or at least I've been told. You know Apollo? He's got thirty kids running around in his cabin. Thirty. And what did he do? Claim them.

Oh gods. I just ranted mentally to my dad. I've lost it.

"Solly. Sol. Freaking. E."

Sighing, I pretended to clean my blade with my neon-orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. "Yes, Poke? How pleasant of you to come by and speak to me. Do you plan to often?"

Poker mock groaned and brushed a strand of light blond hair, streaked with a dark blue, out of her gray eyes. "Ranting to Daddy Dearest again? Really, Sol, I knew you were crazy, but the dude can't hear you. If you're going to yell at your parent, just give him spolied food as an offering. I failed a test once and gave my mom moldy cheese. Let's say she wasn't happy about that, but hey, I haven't failed since." To prove her point she held up the back of her right hand, where you could still see the white scars where the owl tore out her skin.

And yes, my best friend's name is Poker. The card game twins, people call us.

I rolled my eyes. "So? I could accidentally give it to Athena. Zeus knows I'm dumb enough already. Besides, I value my eyes where they are, not picked out of my skull." Poker shrugged.

"Your loss, then."

"Yeah right." I tucked both knives into their sheaths on my wrists, making sure to clip the cap on both blades so it didn't fall off. I carried my knives with me most of the time- even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be attacked, they made me feel safer. Still, I had to cap them so no one got hurt, and never, ever, could I wear my wrist bands while sleeping. What? The guy had gotten too close to me while sleeping, and his breath smelled weird. Is it my fault I s;ashed him on the neck? No.

"C'mon. Dinner's soon. Do you really want to be kneeling at the end of the table?"

"Oh look," I whispered. "There goes Percy I-can't-do-anything Jackson." From the heads turned, I knew it was either that or Mr. D in his underwear. Probably-and hopefully- the first.

Call me jealous. Call me bias. I hated that guy with a burning passion. You save the world once and everyone thinks you're the biggest thing since Michael Jackson. And really, what had he done? Gotten lucky. "You know, sometimes I really wish that scorpion's venom would have worked quicker."

"Hey Solly! Come earlier next time and you might get a seat," Travis Stoll, head of the Hermes cabin joked. I had to admit- it was odd to see him instead of Luke, because of his betrayal a year ago, where he tried to kill Percy with a scorpion.

I had been cheering the scorpion on.

Anyway, Mr. D, the camp director, stood up. "Yeah yeah, welcome to another summer at Camp Half-Blood. You managed to stay alive another year. Whoopee." The usual. When I got up to give an offering to the gods, I thought _Please, whoever my father is, tell me. _

Then something odd happened. A bunch of satyrs and nymphs came running out of the woods. Most of them crumpled to the ground and never came back up, but one reached the pavilion. "They're here," he whispered before he fell down. Jenna, one of the Apollo's, stood up and ran to him.

"Dead," she said quietly, as if she couldn't understand why. Everyone went silent as Jenna slowly walked over to the others. When she returned, she shook her head. "All of them. Gone."

A couple people stood up, wanting to see what was wrong. "No," Chiron, the activities director, said. "Go to your cabins. Now. Capture the flag is rescheduled." Poker and I looked at each other.

"I know what you're thinking," I whispered. "You want to go in there?" Poker smiled and nodded. "But we're not allowed," I said, and then we both burst out laughing. I led Poker to the woods, a place that we went to very often. I pulled a tiny flashlight and turned it on, letting me see a few feet in front of me. I was the one to take the first step into the forest. There was something sort of... off about it. Maybe it was because this was the latest that I'd ever been in it. (The harpies always sort of crept me out.) All of a sudden I heard a twig snap and I instantly turned the light out. Poker clamped her hand on my shoulder to tell me that she was there. I reached up with my left and touched her hand.

Suddenly I saw a bright shimmering light, too bright to be natural. I threw my hands up over my eyes to block out the light. I moved them once the light had faltered, and was surprised at what I saw. Standing in front of me was a girl, probably about sixteen years old, with long blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She was staring at me and Poker, looking slightly confused. "Oh- I thought that no one was supposed to be here," she said, though she didn't sound angry.

"Uh- we're not. But we came anyway. Who are you?" Poker asked.

"May I ask the same to you?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm Poker- daughter of Athena, goddess of intellect, war, and useful crafts. And that's Solitaire, daughter of, well, we're not sure yet." The girl let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh good- you're demigods."

"What else would we be? Half giants? This is Camp Half-Blood, you know."

"Let's just say I haven't been here for a while," the girl said. I noticed that she sort of glowed.

"You haven't answered our question yet- who are you?" A bunch of sparkles flew off of her.

"Theia," she said. "Titan of sight and the shining light of the clear blue sky."

Once the shock of seeing a Titan got over, I said, "Are you the one who poisoned the satyrs?" Theia laughed. I liked her laugh- it was friendly and soft.

"Heavens no. Are you saying that because I'm a Titan? We're not all evil like Kronos." Next to me, Poker said,

"But aren't all of them dead or punished or in some sort of prison?" Theia laughed again.

"Most of them are, but Zeus let me live, only if I promised to do whatever he told me to," she said. "I was sent to find out more about the poison. Why are you two here?"

"We got curious."

"I would suggest going back- you don't want the harpies to eat you, do you?" Of course not. I turned on the flashlight and Poker and I turned around and left.

"See you," I said over my shoulder. Poker smiled at me.

"Well, that was mildly interesting," she said.


	2. Titans and Parties and Trumpets, Oh My!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson, Camp Half-Blood, Coke, the**** Greek gods, Travis, Connor, or- let's just say I own nothing, okay?**

Luckily, we managed to creep back to Camp Half-Blood without being noticed. After saying a quick good-bye, we split up. I went into the Hermes cabin, the cabin I'd been in for three years now. I know I've said this before, but it was strange seeing Travis and Connor as the cabin heads after getting so used to Luke.

Well, anyway, the Hermes cabin was, in a nutshell, a mess. People were everywhere, shouting and playing loud music. Travis and Connor were right with them, even though it was about nine o'clock at night. Yeah, we weren't very strict about lights out. It was so crazy that no one noticed that I had entered. That was good. "What are you guys doing in here? Throwing a party?" Standing in the doorway was Lee Fletcher, head of the Apollo cabin.

"Funny you should say that. Remember when the Apollo's threw a party and half of the country had a blackout for a week?" I said, laughing. Lee's face flushed.

"Well, could you quiet down? We in the Apollo cabin are trying to sleep." Travis shrugged.

"Maybe." That was rule number one of being Travis- never give a relatively helpful answer. That gets _really _frustrating.

The next day, no one mentioned the sudden satyr thing that happened last night. It was odd, really. All that people talked about was how mad they were about the capture the flag game being canceled. So what did I do? I talked to Jenna. She was standing outside of the Apollo cabin, strumming a song that sounded like it was from the 60's. (Yes, I can tell just by hearing Jenna play it on the guitar. Don't judge me.) "Hey Jen-Jen, what you playing?" Jenna jumped. I laughed. She had a tendency to do that.

"_My Girl _by the Temptations." Exactly.

"C'mon," I said, pulling her arm. I half-dragged her to Thalia's tree. Why? I have no idea.

"So, how'd your little expedition go last night?"

"You knew about that?" I practically shouted.

"Uh- yeah," Jenna said slowly, trying not to laugh. "I've known you since I've came here, Solly-" I punched her on the arm. I hated being called Solly. "Do ya' think that I would know if you and Poker-"

"Speaking of Poker, she's-" Jenna ignored me. I sighed, knowing what that meant.

"Were sneaking off, doing something you weren't supposed to- Poker!!" I shrugged.

"Hey, I tried to warn you," I said, though I doubt Jenna heard me over Poker's fake tone-deaf singing. Without warning, she threw her hand in her pocket and pulled out a miniature trumpet. She blew it straight into Poker's ear. Remember, children- Never bug Jenna, or else feel the wrath of the mini trumpet!

"Hey-uh, Jenna, do you remember the little, um...?"

"Massive satyr death?" Poker suggested.

"Yeah, what she said." Jenna gave me a blank look.

"What do you mean? Nothing happened last night," Jenna said. Poker and I exchanged confused looks. "Except, you know, you're little-"

"Will you stop talking about that? You'll get us in trouble."

"Solitaire? Trouble? Never." The three of us turned around. Standing there was Travis Stoll, leaning against a tree, drinking a can of Coke. Hm, that was odd. He'd finished all of his "secret" stash yesterday.

"You? Trouble? Always," I said. That was me, always reversing things.

"Solly?" Poker said, slowly, her eyes fixed on something ahead of her. I looked. Squinting, I saw a faint spot on the horizon. Barely. We took a step closer, except for Travis, who shrugged and turned around.

"Is that-" I started, but Jenna had already run off in the direction of the thing. We both followed.

Once we got closer, I saw that it was a girl. A young one, with long blond hair that fell over her colorful shirt. She lay on the ground, staring at us with wide, gray eyes. Jenna knelt down next to her. "Are you okay?" she asked. The little girl just stared at her.

"E-Elysium?" she asked in a faint voice. The word sounded familiar, but I couldn't think of why. Jenna reached into the small bag that always hung on her waist and pulled out the mini trumpet.

"What are you going to do- blow her ear out? What did the poor little girl do to you?" Poker asked. Jenna did a quick blow into Poker's ear and then put her hand back in her bag. This time she clutched a bag of ambrosia in her hand.

"Wait- how do we know she's a half-blood?" I asked. Jenna shot me a weird look.

"She got past the border." Oh. That explained a lot.

Jenna placed a square of ambrosia in the girl's mouth. "Take her to the infirmary," Poker instructed.

"Really? I was going to throw her off the climbing wall," Jenna replied with sarcasm.

"You were?" Poker, obviously, wasn't very good at recognizing sarcasm. Jenna gave her an odd look. "Oh. Sarcasm. Right." Jenna and I lifted up the girl and carried her down the hill between us. When we reached the infirmary, we saw an Apollo girl leaning against a railing.

"Oh Hades," she whispered seeing us. "What'd you do, Solly?"

'How come every time someone gets hurt you blame me?"

"Because it's almost always your fault." Oh. Couldn't argue with that one.

About thirty minutes later the girl was laying on a cot in the infirmary, her bright blood-spattered clothing replaced with a Camp Half-Blood shirt that practically reached her knees. "Her injuries aren't very severe," the Apollo girl-whose name was Elaine, by the way- told us while she wrapped a bandage around her knee. "But she's been running from who knows what for a long time."

"Thanks," I said.

"Why? You know her? Is she your cousin or something?" I left without answering. Honestly, why would someone think that I was related to her? We looked nothing alike. Then again, people didn't really know that much about me… oh well. I didn't really care either way. I did, however, care about the girl, even though I'd never met her.

Outside of the infirmary I saw Jenna sitting on the grass, reading a book. "What you reading?" I asked.

"A book. About minor gods," answered Jenna, putting down the book. "Though it's quite hard to read when every time the word god comes up I see the word dog."

Ditto.

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_*Looks at publish date* Oh wow, that took a long time._


	3. A Whole Lotto Weirderness

**Disclaimer: **BuryTheCastle no own Percy Jackson. BuryTheCastle no saying that she own because she doesn't. Yet. *evil laugh*

AND I KNOW! I KNOW I'M A GOD-AWFUL EXCUSE FOR A FANFICTION AUTHOR! FORGIVETH ME, I BEGETH YOU!

On with teh story. :)

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"Hey, Poker- don't you think it's a little weird that... um..." I broke off midsentence, trying to find the right words. "That night. The mass satyr death thingy. Where we met Theia. How no one remembers it." Poker gave me a questioning look.

"Yeah... I swear that I saw Jason yesterday, though he was clearly among the ones that died. Sitting there. Unhurt." She slouched back in the bench, grinding her teeth. "Jenna forgot. And she remembers everything."

"So that means that either we've gone insane and were hallucinating, or that everyone at camp has become super-scatterbrained and the all satyrs have identical clones." I scratched an annoying bug bite on my shoulder. "It's a close one, but I don't know which one I believe more."

"Same here..." Poker said quietly. "I don't know things have been a little... weird, lately." I fiddled with my knife.

"What do you mean, 'weird'? It's Camp Half-Blood. It's weird here."

"Weird_er_, I meant." She sighed. "I don't know. Everything's seemed so tense lately." She looked up, locking her dark gray eyes on me. "I think the cabin heads know _something_. Dameon's been very strict about curfew recently... I mean, more than normal. I was lucky to get back after seeing Theia without him noticing. Luck, I guess."

I nodded. "I think Jenna said that Lee broke a string on his guitar yesterday... he was zoning during a song and pulled too hard. And then he yelled at everybody to get away from him." I squinted at the far-off shape of the Apollo cabin. I could hear faint music coming from it... probably some 70's song that no one really cares about anymore. "Completely out of character for him."

"I don't get it." Poker's voice was soft. "Didn't... didn't Percy say something about Kronos, though? About him being back?" I laughed, loud and full.

"Poke, do you honestly believe Percy Wimp Jackson? Puh-lease. He just likes the attention. The little ham." Another small laugh escaped me. "He's got the entire camp wrapped around his puny finger. They'll believe anything he says." I rolled my eyes. "People are so freaking stupid. "

"All right..." she said softly.

"You're just upset about your boyfriend, aren't you? I always knew you loved Luke." Poker winced at his name. "Too bad, sweetie. He's gone for now. Good luck winning him over."

Poker took a swing at me. "You're just jealous of Percy, aren't you? Someone's finally up seated you in sword fighting with only one year of practice." She tilted her head back and shouted to the sunny skies, "Say farewell to Solitaire the Great! Finally been beaten by someone! Maybe now her ego will fit on Earth."

Instead of some sort of deep comeback, I whimpered, "I do _not _have an ego." She rolled her eyes.

"Try telling your daddy that. Oh wait," she smirked. "He doesn't want you."

I leapt up. "Idiot." I glared at her. "You're so selfish. When will you learn that you aren't the center of the universe?"

"Oh, Solly, I have. I haven't believed that since I was three years old. I think," She snapped, "That pathetic excuse for an insult should be directed at you."

"Why don't you go join your boyfriend? I'm sure no one will miss a stuck-up, arrogant, dumb daughter of Athena."

"You're still unclaimed. Don't you think after five years he would have claimed you if he cared about you?" Poker's voice was harsh, a rarity.

"I thought the gods don't care about us. Didn't you say that once, or have I lost it?" Bad move, Solly. Very bad move.

"Both." I knew that had been coming since the words escaped my lips. That one had been my fault. "Especially the latter."

"You know what I just figured out? You're just as bad as Percy. Didn't you get claimed right after saying that? So wasn't it all for attention?"

"That's it," Poker growled, and whipped out spear that she always kept with her. Instinctively, both of my knives were out and facing her in seconds. Poker leaned forward, about to lunge at me-

When a Hermes boy stepped in between us, his arms outstretched in a "Peace" gesture. "Poker and Solitaire? Elaine wants you in the infirmary." Still glaring at Poker, I sheathed my knives again.

We didn't look at each other as we went to the infirmary; and it dawned on me that Poker and I had never fought before. Never, since an eleven-year-old Poker showed up at Camp Half-Blood two years ago, and we ever yelled at each other. It hurt a little; it really did.

Inside, the little girl was sitting up, confusion shining in her sharp gray eyes. Elaine sat next to her, whispering something to her. Jenna was there also, humming a ballad from the 90's."There you are," Elaine said quietly, turning her head to us. "She asked for you two to come."

"Have you found anything out yet?" I asked.

"Not really," she answered with a slight shake of her head. "All she remembers is her name. Nothing else. Ella, that's her name." So I knelt beside her.

"Ella? Um... wh-..?"

"Who are you?" she asked quietly. I guessed she was only about six years old.

"My name is Solitaire." I made sure my voice was gentle. "Like the card game."

"Card... game?" I looked over at Elaine in question.

"Yes. Have you heard of it?"

"No, I haven't... what do you mean by 'card game'?" I blinked. So card game approach failed. Beginning trial two. Beep. Beep. Please wait while Solly figures out what to say.

"Hi, Ella. My name is Jenna and I love playing music. What kind of music do you like?" Jenna said as if she were talking to a pre-schooler.

But Ella didn't answer. Her eyes were fixed on me, as if she knew me. "Soll...i... taire?" I nodded.

"Right here."

"Ella? Did you hear me?" Jenna asked.

I was about to say something else when a crashing pain erupted in my head, like a hammer was bashing on my skull. I felt dizzy and nauseous, and I had to force myself to breathe right. Images flew past my eyes, voices whispered in my eyes. My hands went in front of my eyes, as if I could shut them against the images; then to my ears, as if I could shut out the voices. I knew I couldn't but I had to try. I slumped against the leg of the cot next to Ella's just as I felt Jenna's hand on my wrist. "Solly? Is it another fit?"

I nodded through the confusion. I was vaguely aware of Jenna dragging me outside where it was quieter.

I tried again to block the images, but failed.


End file.
